Mediagazer: Amazon's ad business grew 44% YoY in Q1 to $3.91B, faster than Google and Facebook, but the typical advertiser's spend/day was halved at end of March vs January (Seb Joseph/Digiday)

Pence's staff threatens to punish a VOA reporter who tweeted that Pence's office told journalists to wear masks on a clinic visit, a rule Pence didn't follow — Vice President Pence's office has threatened to retaliate against a reporter who revealed that Pence's office had told journalists …

Seb Joseph / Digiday:

Amazon's ad business grew 44% YoY in Q1 to $3.91B, faster than Google and Facebook, but the typical advertiser's spend/day was halved at end of March vs January — The coronavirus lockdowns have helped Amazon swallow more ad dollars. That's likely to be a long-term gain for the retailer-cum-ad-business.

Discussion: Adweek, Adweek, TechCrunch, Vox, VentureBeat, AdExchanger and Protocol, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

New Tow Center report on digital security in journalism finds many news outlets fail to provide the training, resources, or encouragement to protect journalists — “This is what it is to do journalism in tech — in an online world. It's time to put the typewriters down and fire up the VPN and get out there and do your job."

Discussion: @niemanlab, @dartcenter, @cjr, @freedomofpress, @vivian, Columbia Journalism Review and Columbia Journalism Review

Mark Di Stefano / @markdistef:

Financial Times media and technology correspondent Mark Di Stefano, who had been suspended for accessing confidential Zoom calls at rival publications, resigns — Hi, letting everyone know today was my last day at the FT. This afternoon I offered my resignation. Thank you everyone who has given support. I'm now going to take some time away and log off x

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Post, @matthewwells, @benyt, @tomgara, @alexwickham, @stuartmillar159, @katiejmbaker, @jonathanvswan, @rosiegray and @josephmdurso

William Turvill / Press Gazette:

SimilarWeb figures indicate the BBC was the biggest news site in the first half of April with ~40M average daily visits, up from 33.8M at the same time in 2019 — Most of the world's biggest news websites saw their online traffic drop off in early April after interest in Covid-19 peaked …

Discussion: @marklittlenews

ABC:

Judge orders Google to pay AU$40K in a defamation case, calls Google a publisher, saying it's designed by humans who can remove objectionable content — Google has been ordered to pay $40,000 in damages to a Melbourne lawyer after a Supreme Court of Victoria ruling found the internet giant was a publisher, and had defamed the man.

Discussion: @holden, @jbenton, @joshbbornstein, @jbenton, Reclaim The Net and Beyond Search

Alayna Treene / Axios:

Trump's new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held the first official White House press briefing since March 11, 2019, and claims “I will never lie to you” — President Trump's new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held her first White House briefing on Friday, the first official press briefing since March 11, 2019.

Discussion: Fox News, Vox, Fox News, @factcheckdotorg, @aaronblake, @anncoulter, @acosta, @yamiche, @alaynatreene, @atrupar, Raw Story and Mediaite

Variety:

Poll of US adults finds 40% of those who go to concerts, movies sports events, and theme parks would go again before a vaccine was available, and 40% wouldn't — Universal Music Publishing Unveils ‘Solutions,’ Network of Sync Offerings for Film, TV, Advertising

KC Ifeanyi / Fast Company:

Pandora founder Tim Westergren launches Sessions, a free live-streaming platform for artists where audiences can leave tips, in beta in 200+ countries — Disillusioned after leaving Pandora, Tim Westergren set out to create a better kind of streaming platform. Can he save struggling artists while redeeming himself?

Discussion: @pennyfractions and CelebrityAccess, more at Techmeme »

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Charlie Plowman, owner of Outlook Newspapers, buys the assets of three recently shut down papers from the California Times; 14 laid off staff won't be rehired — Charlie Plowman, owner of Outlook Newspapers in La Cañada Flintridge, has acquired the assets of three recently shuttered newspapers …

Discussion: @acrostical, @myglendale, @sammy_roth, @megjameslat and @burbankca

Emilie Lutostanski / Local Media Association:

Inasmuch Foundation and Local Media Association to launch the Oklahoma Media Center, a collaboration among local outlets with an initial focus on COVID-19 — The Center will develop and share news content related to COVID-19 crisis impacts in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide; diverse mix of Oklahoma news outlets ready to participate

Discussion: @newsbyschmidt, @jimbrady and Center for Cooperative Media

Jim Roberts / @nycjim:

Cheddar's editor-in-chief Jim Roberts is stepping down — I informed my team yesterday that I would soon step down as editor-in-chief of @cheddar. It has been a privilege to lead a newsroom of so many creative and energetic young journalists, as we worked to make a very different kind of television news. It was also a blast. 1/2

Discussion: @alykeves, @nycjim and @bakermachado

Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:

The spread of coronavirus is pitting family members against each other over the severity of the pandemic with the fault lines determined by news appetites — FAMILY FEUD — Ehrin Van Marter hasn't had outside contact with anyone in five weeks. Her boomer parents are hosting weekly parties.

Discussion: @indayevarona